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Work
on the dedicated Sapangar Bay
Container Terminal (SBCT) is
scheduled to start by first quarter
of this year and is expected to be
ready for commercial operation by
middle of 2004 said the general
manager of Sabah Ports Authority
(SPA), Ramli Amir.
“The
new container terminal would have an
L-Shaped wharf with an outer berth
of 200 meters and inner berth of
about 170 meters. The RM150 million
new container terminal would have an
annual handling capacity of about
70,000 TEUs,” said Ramli.
An
area of about 10 hectares will be
reclaimed to make way for the new
container terminal. The new terminal
is located less than 1 km away from
the existing Sapangar Bay Oil
Terminal.
"The
completion of SBCT within the next
two years with sufficient cargo
handling equipment will make it a
dedicated container port in the
BIMP-EAGA region. Additional
container handling equipment will be
acquired to ensure efficiency level
to reach at least 22 boxes or moves
per hour," said Ramli.
"The
development of SBCT is timely as the
Kota Kinabalu container terminal,
which is capable of handling 80,000
TEUs, has reached its maximum
capacity. At the initial stage, the
SBCT will be complementing the
present Kota Kinabalu Port but we
will be moving the entire Kota
Kinabalu container operations to
SBCT once we reach the second phase
of development" said Ramli.
Besides
serving the existing industrial
estate the terminal is also expected
to serve the Kota Kinabalu
Industrial Park (KKIP) established
by the Sabah State Government.
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